By
Smart Njikang Gabriel*
Barrister Okha Bau Okha, new
Southwest Regional Delegate of Elections
Cameroon (ELECAM), appointed on July 9,2014, was last Wednesday August 5 - slightly one year after,
at Mountain Hotel Buea, commissioned into his new functions, by no other than the newly appointed
Director-General(DG)of Elections Cameroon, Mr. Abdoulaye Babalé.
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| DG, Abdoulaye Babalé(in white) instructs Barrister Okha |
Power tussle and personality
conflict between Dr.Samuel Fonkam Azu’u, ELECAM BOARD Chairman and Mohaman
Sani Tanimou, former Director –General of ELECAM, were blamed for the late commissioning
of Barrister Bau Okha by Sani Tanimou’s successor, Mr.
Abdoulaye Babalé, who is a former cabinet minister.
The Director-General,
in his installation speech, last Wednesday, tasked Barrister Bau Okha to ensure a significant
increase in the number of registered voters in region before the end of the
current voter’s registration period.
“Put in every effort to ensure that the number of
registered voters in the South West Region increases before the end of the
voter registration period on 31 August 2015.... I enjoin you to do every thing
in your power to strengthen the confidence Cameroonians have begun to have in Elections
Cameroon and in its management of the electoral process”, the DG instructed.
According to Mr.Abdoulaye Babalé, the new
regional ELECAM boss can only succeed provided that he builds a strong and
faithful team of collaborators.
Mr. Babalé advised
the new Southwest boss to assume a true leadership role that would enable him
earn and deserve confidence and trust of personnel under his control.
Barrister Bau Okha was also
urged to ensure discipline among his staff, give them the necessary protection
and assistance.
The regional ELECAM delegate
was also told to be fair and equitable in his management of financial and
material resources allotted to the region for running cost and operational
expenses.
The functions of the
regional ELECAM boss include but are not limited to: the organization,
supervision and follow-up of electoral operations, follow-up of voter registration and establishment of voter cards, supervision of
the distribution of voter cards, distribution of election materials within the region, centralization and forwarding of election
results to the Directorate-General of Elections in Yaounde , the maintenance of
IT equipment, the preparation of the operating budget of the regional
delegation, the management of regional personnel and the management of the
operating budget of the Delegation.
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| Barrister Bau Okha and Director-General Abdoulaye Babalé,in family picture after former's installation |
After his installation, the Southwest Regional ELECAM
Delegate reportedly told reporters:
“So far, we have registered well over 12,398 voters
and I promise to do my best to increase that number before the deadline runs
out. I think we have improved this year because last year, by the time the exercise
ended, the region had registered just a little over 7,000 voters...”
Barrister Bau Okha, was born on
December 21, 1961 in Kumba, he studied Law at the University of Yaoundé,
obtaining a Bachelor’s Degree in Law in 1985. He went on to study Law at
postgraduate level at the Nigerian Law School in Lagos and the Indiana
University School of Law, obtaining a Master’s Degree in Law in 2004. Before he
joined ELECAM, Barrister
Bau
Okha was a member of the Bar Associations of both Nigeria and Cameroon. He was
a practicing lawyer from 1998 to 2010.
Before
his appointment as the Regional Delegate, Barrister Bau Okha was
the Service Head in charge of Electoral Operations at the Southwest Delegation of
ELECAM. The ceremony was witnessed by a host of dignitaries who included the Secretary
-General at Buea Governor’s Office, Mr. Clement Fon Ndikum; Professor Dorothy
Limunga Njeuma and Mr. Tambe Tiku, both members of ELECAM’s Board of Directors,
and also Professor Nalova Lyonga, Vice Chancellor of the University of Buea.
Barrister Bau Okha took over Emmanuel Njang Mbeng,now on retirement.
*Smart Njikang Gabriel is a University of Buea Journalism student
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